{{Outdated2|Access to Hulu is now handled through the [[MythNetvision]] plugin.}}

==General==

==General==

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This guide will walk you through the installation and integration of Hulu Desktop for Linux. Hulu only officially supports Ubuntu 8.04+ and Fedora 9+, but most other distros should work. This guide was written for Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). It assumes that you're running as the user that as your Mythfrontend, and that you have already configured LIRC to work. Full LIRC setup is outside the scope of this article.

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This guide will walk you through the installation and integration of Hulu Desktop for Linux. Hulu builds for Fedora 11 and Ubuntu 9.04, but most other distros should work. It assumes that you're running as the user that your Mythfrontend runs as, and that you have already configured LIRC to work. Full LIRC setup is outside the scope of this article.

Please note that the guide doesn't fully integrate Hulu into your Mythfrontend--it configures it to launch Hulu Desktop from Myth and sets up LIRC.

Please note that the guide doesn't fully integrate Hulu into your Mythfrontend--it configures it to launch Hulu Desktop from Myth and sets up LIRC.

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==Installation==

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==Hulu Desktop Installation==

Installation of the Hulu Desktop app itself is fairly trivial, assuming you have the necessary prerequisites. You will need Flash installed.

Installation of the Hulu Desktop app itself is fairly trivial, assuming you have the necessary prerequisites. You will need Flash installed.

Hulu Desktop is now in Portage, keyworded ~x86 and ~amd64, so installation is simple:

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Grab the .rpm from [http://www.hulu.com/labs/hulu-desktop-linux Hulu Labs] and turn it into a .tar.gz with <code>rpm2targz</code>. Unpack it with <code>tar</code> and <code>gzip</code> and copy the ''huludesktop.arch/etc/huludesktop'' directory to ''/etc'' (where arch is the architecture you downloaded, x86_64 or i386). For example:

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echo media-tv/huludesktop ~\* >>/etc/portage/package.keywords

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emerge -av media-tv/huludesktop

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rpm2targz huludesktop.x86_64.rpm

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If you don't already have Flash or other dependencies installed, they will be downloaded and installed as well.

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tar -xzvf huludesktop.x86_64.tgz

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cp -rv huludesktop.x86_64/etc/huludesktop /etc

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The only important thing to copy from ''huludesktop.arch/usr/'' is ''huludesktop.arch/usr/bin/huludesktop'' - copy it to somewhere in your $PATH (''/usr/local/bin'' or ''/usr/bin''). Copy the rest as you desire:

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===LinHES===

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cp -urv huludesktop.x86_64/usr/share/* /usr/local/share

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sudo pacman -Sy huludesktop

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===LinHES===

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sudo pacman -Sy flashplugin lirc-utils

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The package will take care of placing Hulu Desktop in the menu. You'll find it under Media Libray > Online Streams. Remote customize should be all you need to do.

The script will take care of placing Hulu Desktop in the menu. You'll find it under Media Libray > Online Streams. Remote customize should be all you need to do.

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==MythFrontend==

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==MythFrontend Customizations==

The next step allows you to launch Hulu from your Mythfrontend. We're going to edit the XML files for your theme for this. Copying XML files from /usr/share/mythtv into ~/.mythtv allows you to customize menus and prevents them from being overwritten during an upgrade.

The next step allows you to launch Hulu from your Mythfrontend. We're going to edit the XML files for your theme for this. Copying XML files from /usr/share/mythtv into ~/.mythtv allows you to customize menus and prevents them from being overwritten during an upgrade.

Line 61:

Line 56:

The next time you run your Mythfrontend, the button will appear on your main menu.

The next time you run your Mythfrontend, the button will appear on your main menu.

First, open ~/.huludesktop in your favorite editor and find the ''lirc_remote_identifier'' line. Replace ''mceusb'' with your remote. If you don't know it, exit the editor and run '''irw'''. Hit a few buttons on your remote, and you'll get output similar to the following:

First, open ~/.huludesktop in your favorite editor and find the ''lirc_remote_identifier'' line. Replace ''mceusb'' with your remote. If you don't know it, exit the editor and run '''irw'''. Hit a few buttons on your remote, and you'll get output similar to the following:

Edit ~/.huludesktop accordingly. Repeat as necessary to adapt other keys.

Edit ~/.huludesktop accordingly. Repeat as necessary to adapt other keys.

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==Troubleshooting==

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If huludesktop will run fine when launched alone, but will not play videos when launched from MythTV, or it says "This request is taking longer than expected...", it may be due to Flash hardware acceleration being enabled. Open huludesktop, right click inside a video and select "Settings" and disable hardware acceleration.

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===Fullscreen Performance Issues===

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On some systems, Flash video playback may be choppy or have display tearing when running at a high resolution in fullscreen mode. To deal with this, you may want to run huludesktop from a script which sets the screen to a lower resolution while huludesktop is running, and increases it after closure. Hulu's highest quality streams are 480p, so setting your resolution to that mode is probably best, though you may want to test various resolutions to find the best combination of smoothness and quality. To find out what resolutions your display supports, run '''xrandr'''. You can create the following script at '''/usr/local/bin/hulu''' For example, if your display normally runs at 1920x1080, but also supports 720x480, (these examples aren't common HDTV resolutions, change per xrandr options) the script can contain the following:

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cd /usr/local/bin

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sudo nano hulu

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Now copy and past the following code into the file

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#!/bin/sh

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xrandr --output default --mode 720x480 && huludesktop

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xrandr --output default --mode 1920x1080

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Exit and save. You need to set permissions for this script

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sudo chmod a+x hulu

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Then use '''/usr/local/bin/hulu''' in your mainmenu.xml file instead of '''/usr/bin/huludesktop'''.

Contents

General

This guide will walk you through the installation and integration of Hulu Desktop for Linux. Hulu builds for Fedora 11 and Ubuntu 9.04, but most other distros should work. It assumes that you're running as the user that your Mythfrontend runs as, and that you have already configured LIRC to work. Full LIRC setup is outside the scope of this article.

Please note that the guide doesn't fully integrate Hulu into your Mythfrontend--it configures it to launch Hulu Desktop from Myth and sets up LIRC.

Hulu Desktop Installation

Installation of the Hulu Desktop app itself is fairly trivial, assuming you have the necessary prerequisites. You will need Flash installed.

Ubuntu

If you don't have Flash installed:

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

Now, download the .deb for your architecture and distro from Hulu Labs. To install using the command prompt:

sudo dpkg --install filename

Gentoo

Hulu Desktop is now in Portage, keyworded ~x86 and ~amd64, so installation is simple:

If you don't already have Flash or other dependencies installed, they will be downloaded and installed as well.

LinHES

sudo pacman -Sy huludesktop

The package will take care of placing Hulu Desktop in the menu. You'll find it under Media Libray > Online Streams. Remote customize should be all you need to do.

MythFrontend Customizations

The next step allows you to launch Hulu from your Mythfrontend. We're going to edit the XML files for your theme for this. Copying XML files from /usr/share/mythtv into ~/.mythtv allows you to customize menus and prevents them from being overwritten during an upgrade.

This assumes you haven't already edited your Mythfrontend's appearance. If you have, edit your existing copy of mainmenu.xml. In my case, I wanted Hulu available on the main menu. You can add it to wherever you like, you just need to copy the right XML file and edit it.

Now, open up mainmenu.xml (or whatever file you copied over) in your favorite editor. Add the following lines where you want your Hulu button to live.

The next time you run your Mythfrontend, the button will appear on your main menu.

LIRC Configuration

First, open ~/.huludesktop in your favorite editor and find the lirc_remote_identifier line. Replace mceusb with your remote. If you don't know it, exit the editor and run irw. Hit a few buttons on your remote, and you'll get output similar to the following:

Edit ~/.huludesktop accordingly. Repeat as necessary to adapt other keys.

Troubleshooting

If huludesktop will run fine when launched alone, but will not play videos when launched from MythTV, or it says "This request is taking longer than expected...", it may be due to Flash hardware acceleration being enabled. Open huludesktop, right click inside a video and select "Settings" and disable hardware acceleration.

Fullscreen Performance Issues

On some systems, Flash video playback may be choppy or have display tearing when running at a high resolution in fullscreen mode. To deal with this, you may want to run huludesktop from a script which sets the screen to a lower resolution while huludesktop is running, and increases it after closure. Hulu's highest quality streams are 480p, so setting your resolution to that mode is probably best, though you may want to test various resolutions to find the best combination of smoothness and quality. To find out what resolutions your display supports, run xrandr. You can create the following script at /usr/local/bin/hulu For example, if your display normally runs at 1920x1080, but also supports 720x480, (these examples aren't common HDTV resolutions, change per xrandr options) the script can contain the following: